Perspective on Life Decisions

Sorry for the delay between posts, this has been an incredibly busy time. I've been working two jobs (Accounting and Intern in Congressman Rangel's district office), have a new calling (Ward Missionary) and have been traveling to Montreal and Ottawa. Oh ya, I'm engaged! There have been so many details to sort through as Sarah and I have tried to navigate the legal aspects of a Canadian/French citizen trying to marry an American and live in the US. I'll spare you all the details, but we had no guarantee that we could live together in the States as husband and wife for quite some time, so we've decided to get married sooner than expected, move to Ottawa and immediately apply for a US spouse visa for Sarah, so that it will arrive by the time we want to move to Carolina in Aug 2007. I am deferring entrance to UNC until that time and am currently looking for work and french classes in Ottawa. Je pense que il sera meilleur pour nous si nous pouvons habiter ensemble. While it has been a humbling sacrifice to put aside grad school for a year, especially after the countless hours of working on applications and traveling to interviews on overnight buses, it feels so good to recognize that Sarah is my #1 priority. While I was sitting through my graduation, I made a list in my journal of all the major decisions and actions I've done since moving to Montreal in Aug 1999 and the impact each decision on getting me to this point. The realization I had is that the decision to marry Sarah was by the far the biggest and most important, and all decisions from now on have to be made in reference to that decision. In other words, with every option I will have in front of me, I have to consider how it will affect my marriage with Sarah, and no matter how good it would be otherwise, if it has a negative impact on our marriage, then it's not the best option for me. This might seem like an obvious realization, but to actually live through it by calling UNC to defer and calling "our apt" in NC to get a refund on our deposit is a bit humbling and exhilarating. Je t'aime Sarah!! Merci pour ton amour.